The Doom and Groom
by SiCoticSymphony
Summary: Trapped in Mount Massive, Rachael has an encounter with The Groom.


The asylum held its breath. It's occupants crawling around it's interior tore it apart piece by piece, board by board, patient by patient. The building was getting restless, tired of holding its own, but it held strong; it had to. Rachael felt the old hospital getting weaker, it's structure failing by the minute, and felt the same way. She wanted out but didn't know where to go, how to escape with her health still intact. In the back of her mind, she wished the asylum would bend under pressure and crash down on her, ending it, but she wasn't ready to give up all hope just yet.

Rachael, disoriented and frightened out of her mind, found herself trapped in Mount Massive; having not the slightest idea how she ended up in the asylum. She heard of the place before, even requested a job to work there (but never got a reply) yet she never remembered committing herself. All she remembered was getting an email but not it's contents, then waking up in one of the rooms, watching the chaos swarming the building. She managed to get herself away from the destruction and manic patients running amok but she had no clue where to go, how to escape the fear the asylum gave.

Then, surprised at her luck, she managed to find someone; someone who could help her.

Exploring the dilapidated hallways and broken down stairwells and rooms, she stumbled upon another patient, coming straight toward her. The hallway she was in offered no safe places and in a last resort, she ducked into an open room, positioning herself behind a well stocked shelf. She had a clear view of the hallway outside and she stared in fear at the patient's shadow growing larger, coming closer to where she was. A dim light hung just outside, flickering with low energy. When the patient moved into the light, Rachael relaxed.

She saw that he was normal, a few cuts and bruises, but a human being; not like the monsters of the hospital. From where she hid, she could see his bleeding ankle, his pained face. He had it worse than her but at least, to Rachael, he had a camera. A small, hand held camera that she guessed had night vision; replacing his own eyes. But before she even had a chance to request his help, he was grabbed from behind from his collar, lifted up with ease, and thrown onto his stomach to the floor. He yelled in pain, and terror, and before he had a chance to defend himself, he was lifted up once more and thrown into the room she was hiding in.

Rachael covered her mouth, trying her best to mask her heavy breathing. Behind the mysterious man stood a malicious figure, the shadow of a man with a gruesome grin on his scarred face. She never saw him before but knew exactly who he was; she just didn't think she would ever see him. He watched as the other man tried to crawl away from him, gripping the rotting floorboards and pushing his way feebly to some safe location. There was none and Rachael was helpless to save him. The man's camera had dropped near her and luckily, it didn't break with the impact of falling. If she got out of this, it was hers. A pang of guilt ran through her. She couldn't take the man's camera, couldn't let the poor man die by the hands of The Groom.

Eddie Gluskin was terrifying, in her thoughts and in person. In some other time, in another place, he would've been handsome, attractive even to her, but he was a psychopathic being, bent on ending the lives of every single thing that stepped into his lair. His hair was slicked back but shaved on each side of his lacerated head. He had been subjected to horrendous experiments that scarred both his body and his mind. Sure, he was already messed up enough, but the tortures he endured rewired his brain, broke something and switch something else on.

Lesions, old and healed and new and bleeding, covered the right side of his pale face. His eyes, a deep blue, were blood shot, literally filled with blood from who knows what and she could see a thin stream of blood pour from his eyes; almost like red tears. He was called The Groom for a very accurate reason; he was dressed like one and he most definitely acted as if he was going to be a married man.

In his mind, he had been married ten fold, but none of his marriages were satisfactory to him. She learned that. Eddie had a gymnasium full of his unsuccessful wives, all hanging together at the very top of the ceiling, just...hanging. All mutilated and naked, strung up in rows, the ropes of their nooses strapped to the floor. In reality, his failed wives were the patients of Mount Massive and it seemed Eddie strung their mutilated corpses up as a reminder to all who see them. You'd die if you crossed paths with Eddie Gluskin, no matter what you did.

Now, as Rachael watched The Groom stand in the door way, glaring at one of his 'wives', she knew the man crawling away had no chance of survival. He was a stray sheep in the deepest part of the forest, calling for help, trying to find it but the wolf had caught him, licking his hungry lips, ready to devour his life.

She could do nothing but watch in horror as Eddie descended into the room, a snarl on his face, "I'm so sorry, darling. Love..isn't for everybody." He spoke smoothly, like he wasn't angry. His tone held comfort, peace, but Rachael saw through it.

The man wasn't talking back at all, just begging in groans and whimpers. Crawling, sliding across the dirty floor to nowhere. The room was a dead end and it was the man's death bed. Gluskin followed him like a predator, eyeing the wounds he had previously made, damaging his prey. Rachael caught the glint of a knife holstered on his belt, bloodied already. She watched as he gripped the handle, pulling it out and readying it for use. He stood over the defenseless man, almost looking sad, disappointed, and raised the long knife above his head and in a swift movement, plunged the blade into the man's back; a sick sound of flesh splitting and the man's screams echoed in the room.

And Eddie didn't stop there.

He had gotten down on one knee, directly above the man, and, with his other free hand on the floor to balance him, massacred the man right in front of Rachael. Everytime the blade entered his back, a scream erupted from him, full of pain and despair. Rachael's tear filled eyes blurred her surroundings and she kept her hand covering her mouth. She could see the blood starting to pool around them, sticking to Eddie's dress shoes. It didn't bother him, he was already dirty enough anyway. He just kept plunging the knife in and out of the man's back but Gluskin stopped though, to Rachael's surprise. He left the knife in the man's back and, when she couldn't see the blade at all, Rachael started to sob quietly.

He wasn't dead yet; she could still hear his ragged breathing coming out in short breaths. Eddie sighed, his voice heavy and laced with venom, "You're not even worth stringing up," He wiped the sweat off his forehead before clutching the handle once more. He leaned in and whispered, out of breath, "Bleed here and die." He removed the blade, another split of the skin, and placed it back on his belt. The room was quiet and Rachael could hear Eddie swallow hard.

He stared at his work, watching the life leave the man until he couldn't hear him breath anymore, couldn't see his tattered chest rise and fall. Eddie sighed glanced around the room before starting toward the door way. His footsteps receded down the hall and once Rachael couldn't hear him anymore, she grabbed the man's camera and left, walking in the opposite direction.

Now, wandering the halls, Rachael continued to find a way out of her hell. She hadn't seen Gluskin since, and was glad. She shuddered to think about what would happen if he caught her. She wouldn't last long, she knew that for sure. She also knew she wouldn't live and that worried her. Rachael had searched for so long to find a way out, she couldn't let some psychopathic patient get in her way, couldn't let him kill her that fast. She just wanted to be home, she wanted to rest.

Suddenly, she heard whistling and it was way too close for Rachael's comfort. She didn't know where it was coming from, only that it bounced off the walls, moving like a ghost toward her. The humming soon turned to singing and that's when Rachael recognized him. It hadn't even been an hour and the Groom had found her. She just wanted to rest...

Rachael didn't know if she was caught but she ran anyway. Dodging through pillars and jumping over upturned floor boards, she ran as fast as her legs could take her, and it wasn't far. She tripped, throwing the camera clear across the hallway, and she could hear it break just like her hopes. His footsteps were close, gaining on her and she did her best to stand up. Like always, she had the worst of luck. He foot was stuck, and she could see the blood staining the wood around her twisted ankle. She looked away in disgust and waited for Gluskin to appear before her.

"Darling, are you alright?"

She could hear his frantic footsteps approach her and she groaned in frustration. She was his target now, his new wife to seek out, and now, she'd have him coming after her; a better incentive to leave. That is, if she could. He bent down beside her, sitting on his calves, staring at her wound in a deranged sadness, "Here, darling, let me help you."

She groaned in pain as Eddie lifted the board constricting her ankle and when she was free, able to move, she stayed as still as she could. Anything could set Gluskin off, inciting his wrath upon her. But she didn't need to do anything; she already made him angry. He stood up straight and glared down at her, his hands clenched into fists, "You wanted to leave me, was that it?" She started to crawl away, just like the other man, afraid of his rage. He was slowly walking with her, his anger building up every time she moved away from him. But she succeeded and she didn't like the outcome. The floorboards, already rotted, broke under her weight and she fell down into the darkness, Eddie's voice ringing in her ears as she started to black out.

"You want to leave me! Fine! Go! You and the rest of these ungrateful sluts! You're just like all the others...!"


End file.
